La voix de Sirène dans Othello

From Homer to Ovid, not forgetting Plato, the myth of the Siren is about fabulous monsters whose harmonious voices are gifted with the power to attract and deceive men, seducing them to kill them all the better. This myth finds an echo in Shakespeare’s plays, as the dramatist endows many of his characters with the ability to enchant others through their voices, be it Luciana, Nestor, or even Othello. Indeed, the Moor appears to have all the attributes of the Siren, delighting his listeners’ ears with his rhetorical, poetic and musical voice, the sensuality and ambiguity of which invite the spectator to enter a new acoustic and semantic space. Yet, if Othello’s voice charms its audience, Iago proves to be the real Siren of the play, using his poisonous voice to abuse the Moor’s ear, and thus leading the latter and Desdemona to death.